Acropolis

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ACROPOLIS - PAGE 4

The Wikipedia entry for "renovation" led to a photograph of one of the most culturally significant places in the world--the Parthenon at the Acropolis. Our goals for this Home Renovation issue might be less ambitious than the restoration efforts taking place at this ancient, but enduring, symbol of democracy, but it is affirming to know that every building needs some work sooner or later. Overseeing a cadre of home design experts, Senior Features Editor Brenda Butler, working closely with photographer Bill Hogan and Art Director David Syrek, hoped that this issue would inspire renovation of all kinds--even if the results are more modest than what's going on in Greece.

"If you came home and found a stranger in your house teaching your child how to break into cars, how to fight and telling your child to spend money, you`d kick that person out," said Jerome Singer, the co-director of the Yale University Family Television Center and the author of "Use TV to Your Child's Advantage" (Acropolis Press, $9.95). Yet TV does just that, he said. Here are some guidelines for parents: - Set limits on which programs and how much TV your children watch.

There's only one Ancient Wonder of the World left: the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Now a Swiss non-profit organization is looking for some new wonders to declare. The group, called New7Wonders, specializes in the preservation, restoration and promotion of monuments, according to Reuters news service, and its short list includes Stonehenge in England and the Acropolis in Greece. The winners won't be announced till next summer, so readers, let's write in our favorite world wonders.

Touring democracy's birthplace, Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday the status of women and children must improve for the ideals of ancient Athens to truly flourish. "We all have to try to perfect" democracy, she declared. On her first morning in Greece, the first lady said governments must do more to feed and educate children. And women need better health care, schooling, jobs, credit and legal protection to "become equal partners in society," she said. Accompanied by her daughter, Chelsea, she opened the sixth day of an eight-day European trip at the Acropolis, a rocky hill overlooking this cradle of democracy.

May 31 (Reuters) - Russia's Evgeny Novikov was the surprise leader of the Rally of Greece after a dramatic first day as favourites Sebastien Ogier, Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg all hit trouble on Friday. Frenchman Ogier retired 22km into the 47km first stage from Kineta to Pissa due to a technical problem with his Volkswagen. Ogier's race is not over, however, as his team confirmed the overall championship leader would restart on Saturday under Rally 2 rules - which allow a driver who retires from an event to re-enter the next day with a five-minute penalty.

Just in time for the start of the Summer Olympics in Athens comes another PBS "Great Performances" special, "From the Acropolis: A Salute to the Games With the Berlin Philharmonic." The 90-minute special derives from a concert given May 1, 2004, by conductor Simon Rattle and pianist Daniel Barenboim to kick off Greece's Hellenic Festival, a five-month cultural celebration. It will be telecast locally on WTTW-Ch. 11 at 10 p.m. Wednesday, with a stereo simulcast on WFMT-FM 98.7. The First Piano Concerto of Johannes Brahms is well suited to the setting since this massive work -- essentially a grand symphony with piano -- is very much an Olympian contest in its own right.

Scarf commotion A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a Douglasville, Ga., courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated. Day care fire A fire on Wednesday injured three children and two adults at a day care center in Alamo, Tenn., that had been shut down by state regulators, authorities said. Hitler cake controversy A supermarket in Easton, Pa., is defending itself for refusing to a write out 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell's name on his birthday cake.

New summer schedules featuring longer hours are in effect at many archeological sites and museums in Greece, as a result of a joint decision by the ministries of tourism and culture. Major sites are open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until Aug. 31. In September and October the sites and museums will close an hour earlier. The winter schedule has not been announced. Previously, many museums closed for prolonged lunch breaks, and afternoon hours varied. The places affected are the National Archeological Museum and the Acropolis in Athens, the Temple of Poseidon in Sounion, Mycenae, Epidauros, Olympia, Delphi, Dion, the Archeological and Byzantine Museums of Thessaloniki, Pella, the Palace of Knossos and Irakleion Museum in Crete, Lindos and the Palace on Rhodes, Mystras, the Venetian Fortress of Corfu and the Royal Tombs of Vergina.

The fact that Soldier Field will lose its landmark status reflects the reality on the ground: Soldier Field is truly not what it once was. But the splendid new spaces in Millennium Park show a way forward. The mayor should assemble a small team the caliber of those he selected for Millennium Park. This team would create a new Soldier Memorial on Northerly Island, on a hill, or as much of a hill as we can make in Chicago--our own little acropolis. The memorial would showcase the old Soldier Field colonnades, which would be moved from their present location.

There is a hidden valley in video games where players can escape from the crushing expectations of saving the galaxy, rescuing the princess or shooting the right criminal. In that idyllic meadow, gamers will find Natsume's unstoppable, sleeper hit farming franchise "Harvest Moon," where guns and fast cars are traded in for watering cans and puppy dogs. Gamers who have played Nintendo's brilliant "Animal Crossing" into the ground, get ready for your next addiction. The new, GameCube-exclusive edition of "Harvest Moon" receives its subtitle, "A Wonderful Life," because the game has moved away from its previous goal-oriented gameplay and is now something of an endless life sim. A budding farm is thrust into your hands, and you must work the land every day, attend to cutie-pie livestock and harvest crops in an attempt to build a thriving agricultural acropolis.